Sunyani, Aug 24, -- Tribunal panellists who are essentially workers of the Judicial Service have been told not to resort to strikes when other avenues for redressing their grievances have not rpt not been exhausted. Mr George Aryeetey, First Deputy Judicial Secretary, said strikes should be avoided as much as possible since it could cause dislocation in the judicial system and lead to breakdown of law and order. He was addressing a meeting of tribunal panellists in Brong- Ahafo on Saturday to learn at first hand of their grievances which led to a sit-down strike on August 18 and 19. He said the delay in the submission of returns from the various stations and districts to the regions for scrutiny before they are forwarded to the Accountant General's Department in Accra for action accounted for the delay in the payment of sitting allowances, the main cause of the strike. Mr Aryeetey said, to forestall this situation, regional accountants have been instructed to submit these returns at least within the first week of the preceding month. He told the panellists that due to the cumbersome nature of computing and scrutinizing their claims, coupled with civil service bureaucracy, few weeks of delay in the payment of their allowances should not rpt not be misconstrued to be a deliberate attempt to frustrate them. gri

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